Ara Wagoner is from the Android Central.
My attempts to bring my family into the fold have mostly fallen flat. This holiday season is the perfect time to try out the phone grip because my family bought new phones this Black Friday. I brought home every type of PopSocket and phone grip that was left in my apartment, and I gathered my family together to see if any of them would impress them.
The goal was to make phone grips good stocking stuffers. They come in thousands of styles and colors, and allow the user to avoid joint pain from holding a phone in a certain way, or from holding a phone for extended periods, and allow for a more stable grip while using their phone. I wanted to see which grips my parents and my twin would like the most, so I went to the stores to find them.
The whole family had a grip that fell completely flat.
The Speck GrabTab is a book.
Ara Wagoner is from the Android Central.
The kickstand feature fell flat, but the grip of the GrabTab was slim and easy to use. I had hoped that the GrabTab's slimmer, wider profile would be more to my mother's liking, as she had previously lamented the bumps on the back of her phone, and how it would catch when taking the phone in or out of her pocket.
The GrabTab's kickstand abilities are not great, it pops out and falls flat too quickly, because the grooves that the strap clicks into to act as a kickstand is too shallow. I understand the appeal of having a sturdy stand built-in. It took up too much real estate on the back of the phone, even though it had a lower profile.
The GrabTab slide is flexible enough to be used with one or two fingers, and it's easy to slip in and out of, even if the kickstand isn't reliable.
I didn't test this grip myself because I knew it wouldn't outdo the PopSockets I already use. The entire table quickly rejected this grip from Austin-based case maker Smartish. The kickstand is more consistent, but it's too bulky for wireless charging, and the strap is more sturdy.
The kickstand only works in the landscape, and no idea how long it will last, combined with the fact that the strap here looks like it'll wear out within a matter of months, spelled doom for the Prop Tart with my family. I might give it a review sometime this spring to see how long it lasts. I like the color choices.
This is larger than many phone grips, but it has a unique design that makes it better suited for kickstand use. Most of the grips on this list are too thick for wireless charging.
Ara Wagoner is from the Android Central.
I used the Spigen Style Ring 360 for over a year, and it's still my favorite phone grip. My mother was interested in it for its small size and compact form factor, as it looked like it wouldn't cause as much of a commotion in the pocket.
The ring style of phone grips allow for a greater level of comfort because you can put your finger in and it will stay in place if you don't uncurl it. The kickstand can work in portrait mode, and the magnet inside the grip's center plate allows it to work with magnetic phone grips without a plate inside the case.
The Style Ring is metal, magnetic, and incompatible with wireless charging. This is the first time my parents have owned a phone that supports wireless charging. The bearings inside a metal ring grip like Spigen's can wear out in less than a year, even though the plastic accordion on PopSockets can take years to wear out.
The Spigen Style Ring is a much better ring grip than most of the models on the market today, because it is a much more compact version and sits flatter on a desk. Spigen's top quality and five fun colors give you a good phone grip.
Ara Wagoner is from the Android Central.
The phone grip helped me through the first few months of the Pandemic, where kickstand were a necessity. Between video calls, virtual meetings, and hours of playing Disney Sorcerer's Arena, the Clckr more than proved itself a capable grip in my eyes. It was the only other grip that my father was willing to give serious thought to.
The kickstand portion of the Clckr was attractive because my father does a lot of reading on his phone, even when his new laptop or ultrawide curved monitor are less than ten yards away from his desk. He had to pull the case off every night to wireless charge his phone, which was a turn-off, especially when my ace in the hole showed up next.
I'm not sure how steady the portrait kickstand would've been with the large, heavy phone my father just upgraded to. I'm going to leave one here for him to try and win the phone grip battle if he ever tires of/breaks.
This combo is great for people who like to watch a lot of videos or play a lot of mobile strategy games. The kickstand is wide and stable thanks to the plastic snaps that keep it in place, and the strap is long and easy to slip through.
Ara Wagoner is from the Android Central.
It's hard to know if you'll like or dislike a swappable PopGrip until you stick it on your phone. If the PopSockets Slide Stretch didn't exist, that would be the case. I used one of these with my own Pixel 6 Pro during the review period so I could hold that big boy securely, and I brought it home hoping that it would allow one or more family members to try out before I switch over to a regular PopGrip.
My father seems to like the PopSockets Slide Stretch more than the standard PopGrip.
There's still plenty of potential for adding some style to the PopSockets Slide Stretch, which can still be swapped out with regular PopTops in other designs, and giving him something extra to hold onto while he reads over his dozen investment group apps. The only problem with the Slide Stretch is that he has to cover the buttons with the grip's sides when he puts it on.
The PopSockets use tension arms to keep the claw-like frame firmly attached to your phone while you pop it up and down. This allows you to swap your PopGrip between cases or phones without having to buy extra bases or deal with peeling off your case.
Ara Wagoner is from the Android Central.
The best phones in the market are getting bigger and heavier, and we're using them for more and more tasks, from holding our vaccination status to scanning at restaurants and finding new webcomics to read. Phone grips bring style and stability to the way you hold your phone, and they can help you avoid phone-related stress injuries. If you're having trouble figuring out what they like, consider buying one of a few different styles and seeing which ones everyone likes.
You don't know what someone might like.
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